Television devices such as LCD or Plasma televisions are becoming more sophisticated each year. Most new models of televisions have a processor and memory and a remote control as an input device. The television is connected to a multitude of content sources such as cable-television set-top-boxes, Blu-ray players, DVD disk players, Video Cassette Recorders (VCR), game consoles, media players (e.g. IPod), etc. The content often includes Metadata, otherwise known as data about data, included with the content and available to the television through the interface to the content source.
An early example of Metadata used in the television industry relates to the vertical blanking interval (VBI). The VBI relates to scanning performed by analog display technology and it is the time difference between the last line of one frame or field of a raster display and the beginning of the next. VBI data is present in analog television signals such as VGA, DVI, etc. Video frames are transmitted during the VBI, but are not displayed on the screen. For example, in cathode ray tube based televisions, the electron beam is blanked (shut off) to avoid displaying artifacts on the CRT as the electron beam location is retraced to the beginning of the next line. The VBI was originally needed because of the inductive inertia of the magnetic coils which deflect the electron beam.
The vertical blanking interval is used for sending Metadata encoded in the video signal. Since any video signal sent during the VBI is not displayed on the screen; various data is encoded by, for example, the XDS protocol (e.g., the content ratings for V-chip), closed captioning, information about the current show, etc. Even though many modern displays do not “retrace,” many legacy signals such as VGA still include VBI intervals and still provide for the transmission of VBI information.
New televisions no longer require the VBI because LCD, LED and Plasma displays no longer deflect an electron beam across the face of the display. Such televisions typically have legacy input ports to support analog sources of content, and, therefore are able to extract the VBI data. For digital content, televisions have digital input ports such as High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) ports, network connections (e.g. Ethernet for downloading content), etc. In the digital protocols used over these interfaces, Metadata is encoded in special packets. For example, some Metadata packets provide content protection, descriptions of the content (e.g. actors, music score, format), closed captioning, etc. In another example, Metadata is carried in the Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP), a protocol used in the Advanced Television Systems Committee for digital television transmission (ATSC) digital television system for carrying metadata about each channel in the broadcast transport stream of a TV station. It includes information related to television programs such as title and description. Metadata is also encoded into MPEG input streams from, for example, cable television signals.
Often a viewer watching is unaware of the Metadata unless the Metadata content rating prevents them from watching, for example, adult content or unless the viewer is using closed caption. Notwithstanding, the Metadata is present and transferred from content sources to the viewer's television.
Viewers watching a particular program sometimes desire more information about the program, cast, locale, directors, etc. The viewers sometimes want to purchase and maybe buy a copy of the content. For example when they are viewing a trailer or advertisement, they may want to buy the movie or soundtrack. When watching advertisements or commercials, the viewers sometimes want more information or want to purchase a product currently advertised. Many of these and similar needs of viewers are often satisfied by the viewer leaving the television and accessing a computer, often located in another room, to search various databases such as the Internet Movie Database (IMDB), a TV Guide, Internet search engines (e.g. Google), Internet sales (e.g. Netflix, Amazon), etc.
What is needed is a system that extracts Metadata from a content stream and uses elements of the Metadata in a one-button purchase of a product related to the content stream.